The present technology relates to a mobile terminal, an information processing method, and a computer program.
Technology related to near field communication (NFC) by electromagnetic induction using a single-frequency carrier wave has been proposed (see Japanese Patent No. 3695464, for example). If a plurality of other devices contemporaneously communicate with a single device in the case where a single-frequency carrier wave is used, collisions occur, and the single device becomes unable to effectively receive signals from other devices. Consequently, in Japanese Patent No. 3695464, each device is configured generate its own RF field after first confirming that another device's radio frequency (RF) field does not exist.
Meanwhile, in the case where a device (device A, for example) communicates in near field with one other device (device B, for example), a plurality of independent devices (device a, device b, and device c, for example) may be housed inside the device A, and the device a, device b, and device c may be mutually coupled to each other in a wired configuration. In this case, the device A produces only one RF field. In other words, the device a, device b, and device c share a communication unit that communicates with other devices by an RF field, wherein only one among the device a, device b, and device c is able to conduct near field communication with the other device B as the device A.
Collisions occur when the respective device a, device b, and device c of the device A contemporaneously attempt to communicate with the device B. However, since the device a, device b, and device c do not independently produce RF fields, it may be difficult for a single device from among the device a, device b, and device c to detect in advance if the other remaining devices are producing an RF field as in the previous proposal.
Thus, technology configured to be able to reliably avoid collisions even in states where it is difficult to determine in advance if another device is producing an RF field has been disclosed (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-147845 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-34973, for example). Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-147845 proposes a method wherein, in the case where a plurality of devices (the device a, device b, and device c discussed above, for example) exist within a system (the device A discussed above, for example) that conducts contactless communication, a device fixed to the system (the device a discussed above, for example) is processed with priority. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-34973 proposes a method of processing data between a system that conducts contactless communication (the device A discussed above, for example) and a single device within the system (the device a discussed above, for example).